Alexis Sanchez on the Wenger creep: Good news?

The aftermath of the fan boycott has been largely positive. The whole objective was for the fans to make a united statement, and whatever the reason was that you didn’t turn up, it contributed to making a global impact against the tenure of Arsene Wenger.

‘Nah mate, I weren’t protesting, I just didn’t show up’

Really can’t feel for you there, and with an attitude like that, I’m glad your absence has been rolled up into something that was geared towards shaking the club into pushing for a better future… otherwise, you just look like a really average fan who doesn’t care about the club. If you’re missing games for anything other than difficulties in getting there, you’re making a protest at the club, that, or you don’t deserve a ticket.

SHAME SHAME SHAME

Anyway, I think we’ve seen the way forward with making a statement against the club. A few people were saying that a march is more impactful, I disagree. Those things require just one person to call the manager a c-bomb and it’s over in the eyes of the media who love Wenger. For me, not turning up is silent, horrible to look at, and it leaves the manager exposed against a backdrop of empty seats. That matters, because at the heart of it, it’s his job to have all eyes on the club. That brings in fans, sponsorship and new opportunities. If people don’t want to watch in the ground, it says to marketing people that fans don’t want to watch on TV… that’s not good for Stan K.

Who has, as usual, been painfully silent. The fact fans are fighting to give the CEO leverage to tapper Wenger’s ridiculous power structure tells you all you need to know about how weak the owner is. He literally doesn’t care about sport. He’s the opposite of an asset stripper. He comes into clubs, works out the minimum needed to sustain life, and goes for it. That said, fans can’t moan too hard. Sure, we need an owner with more ambition, or at the very least, an owner who will empower Ivan to make the best decisions… because look, I can assure you our CEO will do great things in the aftermath of Wenger. But, back to Stan. If you’d said 10 years ago, we’d have an owner who’d leave the sporting stuff to the manager and never

That said, fans can’t moan too hard. Sure, we need an owner with more ambition, or at the very least, an owner who will empower Ivan to make the best decisions… because look, I can assure you our CEO will do great things in the aftermath of Wenger. But, back to Stan. If you’d said 10 years ago, we’d have an owner who’d leave the sporting stuff to the manager and never interfere. We’d all be applauding. Now the game is more competitive, we’re horrified. We just need a balance, that’d start with an owner who wanted to win. Such a shame Usmanov is likely going to jump ship and turn Everton into the new Manchester City. Even more reason for Stan to buck his fu*king ideas up. We are under threat…

As we head into next season, we’re coming to that part of the season where we start reminiscing about how good loan players are. The hot topic at the moment is the keeping position. Petr Cech, despite a strong finish to the season, has looked poor. David Ospina is not good enough by a margin. So what is on the table now? Szczęsny. That’s who.

Please lord don’t let him wander back to the club. Roma fans aren’t enamoured with him. He looks the same keeper he always has for me. Arrogant, prone to switching off, and simply not good enough for Arsenal. We need to be looking at someone who can man the sticks for the next ten years. That’s not Pickford for me, I’m unsure how anyone can look at a keeper who has conceded 64 goals this season and say they fancy him. He made some good saves the other night, he also made a lot of bad decisions. We need a keeper capable of playing at the highest level.

One player at the top of his game, Alexis Sanchez, had some strong words about the manager.

“I think that a coach that gave this club a stadium, trophies and who has been there 21 years should have a statue done to remember him forever.”

“He is a manager that looks after the players — he develops them and makes them mature. I’m happy here with the players, the club and with life in general.”

Very interesting comment. Like, the sort of disturbing view that only someone with something to gain would say, especially considering the situation and his kind of shitty attitude behind the scenes. When asked about his future, he had this to say…

“It doesn’t depend on me but on what the club wants or doesn’t want,”

Hmmm… sounds like he’s put a big number on the table. Match that, and he’ll hang around. He sure as hell won’t get £300k a week at Bayern or Juventus. Might get trophies, but we know these South Americans are all about that $$$. I was told he has a mega number in from China as well. So we’ll see, but look, there’s no way Wenger has the pull to do anything with elite strikers in Europe, so we might have to pull a David Moyes / Rooney move and just go for it.

I think Sanchez is incredible. Concerned about the stories he’s a pain in ass behind the scenes though. Is he staying at Arsenal because if the money is right, the power and lack of discipline appeals. The team will always be built around him. He’ll never be told what to do. He’ll play every week. Would he get that at an elite club? Unlikely.

Right, I’m tapping out. Tune into our podcast, it has fan voicemails, and they’re pretty damn good. Would like a few Grovers to drop a message next time. Anyway, jump on and subscribe… leave a rating too if you’re feeling really generous.

We’ll be doing an FA Cup special next week. We’ll be asking for some help as well.

Bamford, utter bs. There is zero reason to give Wenger a new contract. Forget actually giving out one, there is zero reason to even contemplate the idea of giving it. If the shameless board actually do the unthinkable then it’ll be proven a fact that they had no intention or idea of ever replacing him.

Sorry, Rambo, but that’s not sound logic. You are absolutely correct that there is no reason to extend Wenger a new contract. However, the fact that they extend Wenger a contract — if they extend him a contract — will not prove that it was already a foregone conclusion. It will only prove that the keep-things-the-same forces won out over the things-need-to-change voices.

The only reason why the Arsenal Board and the majority share holder Kronke is giving Wenger a new contract is because they are afraid. Afraid of change, winning and being a football club again.

… and thank you to the Arsenal legend Tony Adams who is telling us what most of us knew already.

Wenger is a rubbish coach…

Showing with his words and actions that he loves the club more than the present manager… and says plainly what most of his contemporaries are too afraid to say… because they feel too beholden to Wenger.

I wonder what Steve Bould thinks of Adams’ remarks. It would not surprise me in the least if he secretly agreed with them.

Bamford, how exactly will you be able to prove the existence of this ‘dissenting set of voices’ at the board level?

All we’ll see and get to know for certain is the end result. Wenger stays or goes. If Wenger stays, then it’ll have proven us sceptics of the board right all along. A collection of spineless, ambitionless potatoes happy to continue with mediocrity.

Bamford – Having watched Wenger’s actual conference for the first time, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed if you think Wenger’s future is at all an issue that will be broached. It was only after consistently being pressed that Wenger reluctantly threw the ‘manager’ line in there. They have a board meeting every year, was the jist of Wenger’s comments. So nothing to see here.

He said renewal of contracts and signings were likely to be main topics of discussion.

So, as I thought, this grand seminal fractious coming together will be have all the fury of a tea party.

And just in case dickhead tries to accuse me of “egocentrism,” by “my camp” I simply mean the camp to which I belong, the camp of which I am a member. This is the camp that thinks there is a genuine conflict playing out behind the scenes, that Wenger getting a new contract was not a foregone conclusion.

However, please note that what Wenger has just said in the presser only represents WENGER’s perception of what the meeting will entail. But he could be wrong. He could be over-estimating the strength of his position, he could be unaware of the adamance or numbers of his opposition, and he could also simply be giving the world the confident, arrogant, I-shall-get-what-I-want, I-call-the-shots-around-here attitude he is so (in)famous for.

None of that would not mean that he is CORRECT about what the meeting will entail.

It was YOU in typical fashion put a demand to others to admit they got it wrong re the board in case Wenger stays. Paulinho and Vicky even gracefully agreed to this.

But when they reversed it to you, asked you whether you would admit that you got it wrong in case Wenger stays, then we got to see you in all your glory.

Making up shit like ‘ If there’s dissenting voices in the boardroom..’ as if that’ll ever be confirmed. Basically you can’t ever admit to being wrong, isn’t that right?

I can play the same game Bamford. If Wenger resigns, I’ll have to admit I got it wrong re the board? No, I won’t. I’ll say it was Wenger himself who chose to step down, that the board wanted him to carry on.

before age took his legs, he was a good player. a 7/10 and extremely consistent.

he rarely played poorly. he kept possession well and kept things ticking. he was a useful squad player and one i appreciate for his consistency

but to say he was absolute quality is a joke lol. peak arteta was 1/3 of the player peak cesc was. he was by no means an elite player. a good servant to the club, sure. a good player who was an overall asset in his early arsenal years, sure. but absolute quality?

mmm. you’ve set the bar a bit low if you’re drooling over arteta lol. he’s a country mile short of the elite CMs of his time.

Sorry football sage, did I offend you? Arteta was quality for Arsenal, I watched him every week and saw first hand how good he was in CM. The fact you mention fabregas is your issue, he was never in that mould.

He was more than consistent, he was a fantastic brain in midfield with the passing and leadership to boot. Surrounded by utter gash at the time. Belittle all you like, your derision does nothing to sway my opinion.

oh i rated him too. but he was a long way shy of elite quality – and elite is the benchmark we had come to expect from our previous first choice CMs.

we both agree he was in a shite midfield at least, but i think you overrate him

he’d not have been first choice in our earlier wenger midfields and i think it was telling of our direction that we went from such players as vieira, petit, cesc, gilberto to arteta. a good player but a step down by arsenal standards

Hmm that’s more fair. Though I don’t think it discredits him that he wasn’t as good as players who are held up as some of the very best in or history. For me he was a superb player for Arsenal both on and off the pitch.

Criminally he never got a midfield partner that remotely lived up to scratch. Same thing to this day basically, yay Wenger